“I only know Red Wings hockey and I like it,” Smith said after the morning skate. “That’s all I can say. I’ve loved every moment here, good and bad. They have made me a better player. I would like to continue to stay on the Wing path, but there is a business, and you never know what happens.”

The Wings have five defensemen under contract for next season, and Nick Jensen and Xavier Ouellet are restricted free agents this summer. Smith might not be back anyways, so trading him now to a team looking to go on a playoff run (Pittsburgh, for example, needs help on defense with two significant injuries) could yield a good return.

Smith says he will think about it as little as possible. He plans to be in Fort Lauderdale during the break, fitting in beach time around visiting his brother Reilly, who plays for the Florida Panthers. Smith said his brother, who has been traded twice, “has given me some good insight” into what it is like. “But really,” Smith said, “I am hoping to stick around and see how everything goes.

“I won't really think about it too much. If something happens, my agent will let me know, or I will see it on social media. It’s all speculation.”

The Wings have a bit of swagger after a weekend that saw them topple the two best teams in the East in Washington and Pittsburgh. Petr Mrazek has been hot his last four starts, earning save percentages of .923, .944, .964 and .949, respectively.

Mrazek will likely start against Thomas Greiss as the Islanders open a 9-game road trip...

Mike Green was back with Danny DeKeyser at the morning skate after missing two games because of illness. Niklas Kronwall is with Xavier Ouellet and Brendan Smith with Nick Jensen.

Up front, Henrik Zetterberg is with Tomas Tatar and Anthony Mantha (they’ve contributed goals in two straight games), and Frans Nielsen is with Andreas Athanasiou and Thomas Vanek (who just scored his 15th goal of the season). Darren Helm is with Dylan Larkin and Justin Abdelkader, and Riley Sheahan with Steve Ott and Luke Glendening.

The Islanders took to the ice for their morning skate after the Wings, per the Islanders...

The Detroit Red Wings face the New York Islanders this evening (7:30 PM EST on FSD/MSG+ 2/97.1 FM) with the Red Wings hoping to earn a pre-"Bye Week" win and the Islanders hoping to start a 9-game road trip on a positive note.

The Wings hit the ice at Joe Louis Arena for their morning skate just after 10:30 AM, per MLive's Ansar Khan...

The Detroit Red Wings will wrap up a slate of 3 games in 4 nights when they face the New York Islanders on Tuesday evening (7:30 PM EST on FSD/MSG+ 2/97.1 FM).

The Red Wings will be looking to earn their third straight win on Tuesday, while the Islanders, who defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-4 on Sunday, will be looking to open a massive 9-game road trip with their second straight win.

The Islanders have alternated wins and losses over the past 6 games, splitting a Saturday-Sunday set of games against New Jersey, but they're still 10-4-and-2 under Doug Weight's tenure as interim head coach.

In all honesty, the Wings' success this past weekend in beating Washington and Pittsburgh, didn't 'shock the Hockey World,' but it did provide the Wings with a confidence boost, which was needed as Detroit goes down the home stretch of their schedule.

"It's huge," defenseman Mike Green said. "More importantly, we're really playing good hockey. If we can continue that after the break here and finishing with the game tomorrow night, we'll go on a run, we'll create some points and we'll put ourselves in a good position. Right now we're playing good and we need to continue."

After Tuesday, the Wings will have their five-day break and return to action February 28 at Vancouver.

"I think there's a sense of confidence that's risen in the last little bit," Green said. "I think really details and guys are really competing. I think one of the biggest things in sitting out the last two games was our forecheck and staying above guys. We're a really playing a patient game and it's cause for some chaos and confusion in the other team's zone and we've gotten a lot of chances. If we continue that we'll be good."

Forward Thomas Vanek echoed Green, but he knows that two games is not the elixir that magically catapults the Wings squarely into the playoffs.

"It certainly feels good," Vanek said. "Like I said before, the big picture is not pretty so I think the message is just play game-by-game. This group has a lot of character, so that's good, so there's nothing to worry about on that side. We're going to come out and play hard and try and win games."

And as for the playoff streak?

"It does mean a lot to all of us in here," Howard said. "We've seen the guys before us, the efforts that they put into to make this organization what it is today. A lot of hard work and hours away from the rink too. It does mean a lot but at the same time I think everyone isn't like, 'The streak, streak!' Right now it's just going out there playing one game at a time and giving ourselves a chance."

About The Malik Report

The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow.